UN: Jobs, aid for poor can avert protests vs greed

MANILA, Philippines – Creating more jobs and assisting the country’s poorest sectors will help the Philippine government avert situations similar to the global protests against corporate greed, an official of the United Nations (UN) said yesterday.

Stephen Anderson, country director of the UN World Food Program(WFP) said the government already has programs to provide relief to the country’s vulnerable sectors.

“I think you have to have a long term perspective as well as short term perspective. The long term perspective is focusing on economic development and creating jobs and decent employment and striving for equity,” he said in a chance interview in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“If you already know who the poorest people are, what are their vulnerabilities and you have a mechanism to (give) resources to them in a targeted way… that is an important basis for the government to be able to respond to any type of potential situation that could come about.”

Anderson cited the conditional cash transfer program, which provides financial assistance to poor families who avail of state health programs and who send their children to school.

“I think the government has put in place the social protection mechanisms and safety nets like the 4P (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) of DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” Anderson said.

“That is extremely important if you are going to be facing any economic upheaval or problems,” he added.

Anderson, however, said it is too early to predict the effects of the protests against corporate greed on the Philippines.

He, nevertheless, gave assurance that the WFP will continue to assist the Philippines’ development efforts.

“We from the international community also have to redouble our efforts to support the government in addressing such challenges so this is something we take very seriously,” Anderson said.

“The World Food Program focuses on food security and we are trying to see what we can do with our modest resources to maximize and strengthen the government systems and the support that they provide to address all the myriad challenges from all sectors,” he added.

Anderson is hopeful that the Philippine economy would continue to grow to enable the government to help the families suffering from poverty.

“We know the Philippine economy has been growing, that the fundamentals of the economy are there. We hope this would provide solid basis in terms of the longer term economic development,” he said.

The World Food Program, which provides food and other assistance to disadvantaged sectors worldwide, aims to help 900,000 Filipinos in the second half of 2011.

Early this week, crowds in Asia, Americas and Europe launched protests against what they called “corporate greed” and the supposed widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Riots have been reported in Rome while mass actions in New York have led to the arrest of more than 80 demonstrators who clashed with policemen.

Protests were also stated in other areas worldwide including Tokyo, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago and Sydney. –Alexis Romero, The Philippine Star